Modhu Saha, 50, used to make a living by vending banana on a rickshaw van at the Madrassa intersection in the northern district township of Natore.
Around 8pm on January 25, he was nearly done selling all the bananas and was planning to take home some rice and vegetables with his day’s income, when all hell broke loose.
Blockade supporters blasted several crude bombs near his makeshift shop and Modhu suffered serious splinter injuries on his thigh which doctors say could maim him forever.
Modhu, currently undergoing treatment at the capital’s Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, is the only bread earner of a family of three which includes his wife Lakshmi Rani and seven-year-old daughter Moumita.
This is just one of scores of families that have been plunged into grave uncertainty because one or two of their important members have been badly hurt in either petrol bomb attacks on vehicles or sustained splinter injuries from blasting crude bombs.
Modhu has three large wounds on his thigh which are at least two inches deep. But worse is the six-inch wide injury that he sustained in the groin. A splinter dug deep into his left groin and severed several arteries.
The doctor attending Modhu said it was hard to tell how long it would take to fully cure him because the injuries are very serious.
“We used to be poor, but now we are destitute. My husband is fully bed-ridden now. I do not know how I will carry on with my family,” Lakshmi Rani, wife of Modhu, told this correspondent.
The doctor said more serious dangers could be waiting for Modhu.
“He bled so much over the last few days that now he is suffering from anemia. Moreover, since he is having to lay down for a long time, he may develop diabetes. If that happens, then the wounds will take much longer to heal. In the worst case scenario, we may have to amputate his lower limbs to save his life,” the on-duty doctor said.
Lakshmi Rani said: “My husband was not with any political party. But now my family is having to pay the worst of prices because greedy politicians want to go to power.”
Since the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance’s nonstop transport blockade began on January 6, at least 70 people have been killed in arson on vehicles and crude bomb blasts around the country. Many more are struggling to survive in various hospitals around the country with grave wounds.
Most of these victims are from the lower income groups who did not have enough savings to survive the political turmoil sitting at home and so had to come out on the streets to make a living.
In addition, countless number of people have suffered burn injuries of various degrees and are running the risks of being crippled forever.
Mujahidul Islam Selim, president of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, said: “It is the power hanker politics that is to be blamed for all these injuries and loss of lives.”
He also said: “Instead of thinking about the welfare of common people, both the parties [Awami League and BNP] are running after power. If this can be changed, then only we can think of a better fate for people, otherwise not.”
